Universal Kings & Queens Society presents

A legacy deserves
a landmark.

Help create permanent recognition for the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp—people who made freedom real long before it was promised to them.

Why the marker matters

Mark the Moment DEC 01—10
2026 Giving Tuesday drive

Approved to move forward

A highway marker for the Maroons of the Great Dismal Swamp

Explore the campaign

A history kept alive

The work ahead

The Maroon Legacy Initiative is turning remembrance into a visible, lasting public record.

Universal Kings & Queens Society is building awareness for a proposed highway marker that recognizes the courage, ingenuity, and self-liberation of Maroon communities in the Great Dismal Swamp.

Read the marker story

The recognition project

One sign.
Enduring proof.

The proposed marker will make an often-overlooked history impossible to pass by.

Placed at the threshold of this historic landscape, it will invite residents, visitors, and future generations to learn whose courage lives in these waters and woods.

Permanent recognition

A public acknowledgment that has a place, a name, and a future.

Living education

A starting point for deeper learning about resistance, survival, and self-determination.

A shared threshold

A local landmark with a national invitation: see this history, say its name, carry it forward.

Next milestone: On December 10, 2026, the marker text receives its final vote.

Seasonal heritage experience

Footsteps of
the Maroons.

Storyteller-led walks and paddles that invite participants to move through a living landscape of resistance, refuge, and self-liberation.

MONTHLY IN SPRING + FALL

Ticketed experience$35per participant

Walk the trail.
Paddle the story.

Each monthly gathering pairs guided reflection with storyteller-led interpretation on the Dismal Swamp Canal Trail.

Request ticket details

Ticket releases, paddle routes, and access details will be announced by UKQ ahead of each gathering.

Giving Tuesday campaign

Mark
the Moment.

For ten days, a small shared act helps put this history on the map.

DECEMBER 1 → DECEMBER 10, 2026

Our collective goal

300people×$10=our
marker

One contribution is a signal. Three hundred contributions make a landmark possible.

Until Giving Tuesday — December 1, 2026

December 1Online drive launches on Giving Tuesday.

December 10Marker text receives its final vote.

DEC
01

Begin the drive

Share the call and bring the first names into the Circle.

DEC
04

Carry the story

Invite a friend to add their $10 act of recognition.

DEC
08

Gather the names

Build momentum toward the final vote milestone.

DEC
10

Mark the milestone

The marker text goes to its final vote.

Recognition that carries forward

The Founding Circle begins with your name.

Every donor will be welcomed on the digital Founding Circle wall and in the printed program for the marker unveiling. A $10 contribution does more than fund a sign—it places you among those who chose to make this history visible.

A name remembered twice

One contribution.
Two acknowledgments.

Digital Founding Circle

A growing public wall that honors the community behind the marker.

Unveiling program

Your name becomes part of the printed record when the marker is revealed.

The next chapter is public

Bring a name.
Build a marker.

Make room for this story in the landscape—and in the conversation. The proposed marker has been approved to move forward. Plan your $10 contribution, add the date to your calendar, and invite someone into the Circle.

Get campaign updates

About the stewards

Universal Kings & Queens Society

Honoring history with action.

The Maroon Legacy Initiative advances recognition, preservation, and public learning around the enduring legacy of Maroon communities. This campaign is an invitation to help make that recognition visible.

Contact UKQ